Guide: How to submit the PhD thesis at the LMU.

Guide: How to submit the PhD thesis at the
LMU.
Version 1.0
July 6, 2015
Abstract
This guide explains the submission process of the PhD thesis (Dissertation/Doktorarbeit) at the LMU (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
München), which serves as the admission for the PhD defense (Zulassung zur Doktorprüfung/Verteidigung).
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Disclaimer
This guide intends to make the submission process as easy and smooth as
possible. However, the official contact point for any questions should be still
the Dean’s Office (Dekanat der Fakultät für Physik ):
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 089 2180 - 3340
Fax: 089 2180 - 3978
Address: Schellingstraße 4, D-80799 München
Current Secretary: Mrs. Barbara Podolski
(a very helpful lady, speaks English too)
Despite our best efforts, we can not guarantee that all information given in
this guide is correct and up to date. In case you find a mistake or have
important additional information, please update this guide to make life for
the following PhD students easier.
This guide is based on the PhD regulations1 (Promotionsordnung, § 6
Zulassungsantrag (1)) as of 06/2015.
Most forms and files mentioned in this guide can be found in the subfolder ./Docs/ and are as of 06/2015.
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https://www.uni-muenchen.de/studium/studienangebot/studiengaenge/
studienfaecher/physik/prom/pruefstudord
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Submission of the PhD thesis
The following documents have to be provided at the Dean’s Office (Sect. 1)
by the official submission date (Tag der Abgabe):
• Form “Admission for the PhD defense” (Antrag für die Zulassung zur
Doktorprüfung, Sect. 5.1); File: Promantrag.pdf.
• Signed curriculum vitae (Sect. 5.2).
• 8 copies of the PhD thesis (Sect. 5.4).
• PDF-File of the German abstract, send via email to [email protected]
(Sect. 5.4).
• Four signed declarations (Sect. 5.5); Files: Erklaerung.pdf and EhrenwVers.pdf.
• Proof of enrollment for 2 semesters at LMU (Sect. 5.6).
• Proposed list of examiners, signed by official supervisor (Sect. 5.10).
• Under certain circumstances: “Certificate of good conduct” (Amtliches
Führungszeugnis, Sect. 5.7).
Note, that it is possible to provide all or individual documents already before
the official submission date.
2.1
Between submission and defense
Once you have submitted the PhD thesis the Dean’s Office takes over and
will organize everything from there until the PhD defense, such as sending a
copy of the PhD thesis to each examiner and requesting the referee reports.
In order to save time these things can also be organized by yourself in consultation with the Dean’s Office. In any case, you have to organize a date,
time, and room for the PhD defense in consultation with the PhD defense
committee (Sect. 5.10) and the Dean’s Office. See Sect. 4 for details. Note,
that the chair of the PhD defense committee has usually the right to decide
at which institute the PhD defense will be held.
See Sect. 6 for things to do after the successful PhD defense.
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Minimum Time Schedule
Here is a list of minimum time periods in order to acquire all necessary
documents (Sect. 2) by the official submission date:
> 1.5 years Enroll at the LMU for at least two semesters and keep the student ID cards (Studentenausweis). For the exact enrollment procedure
see the appropriate documents.
> 1.5 month Contact potential examiners for the PhD defense (Sect. 5.10).
> 1 month Under certain circumstances: Request a “certificate of good conduct” (Amtliches Führungszeugnis, Sect. 5.7).
> 1 week Under certain circumstances: Request a “certificate of enrollment” (Sect. 5.6).
> 1 workday Print and bind 8 copies of the PhD thesis (Sect. 5.4).
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Date of the PhD defense
The Dean’s Office recommends a minimum time of 1.5 months between the
submission of the PhD thesis and the PhD defense. This already assumes
that the PhD thesis referees (Sect. 5.10) do not need much more than a week
to write the referee report. Note that in principle they have the right to use
up to two month for this process and in the case that the two referee reports
disagree too significantly in their judgment a third referee has to be involved.
However, Dean’s Office says that such cases are rare.
In the event that there is less than 1.5 months available, the Dean’s Office
(Sect. 1) and the PhD thesis referees (Sect. 5.10) should be informed in order
to accelerate the referee process of the PhD thesis. However, based on the
PhD regulations, there has to be a minimum period of 22 days between
receiving the referee reports and the PhD defense. There is a required period
of two weeks for inspection by any Professor of the LMU, when the PhD
thesis goes on public display at the physics institute (Fakultät für Physik )
of the LMU. If there are no objections a formal invitation is sent out eight
days before the PhD defense.
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Documents for submission
In the following sections we describe in more detail the documents required
for the submission of the PhD thesis (Sect. 2).
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We start with the form “admission for the PhD defense” (Antrag für die
Zulassung zur Doktorprüfung) and then describe all documents which appear
in this form. For ease of reference, we use the order and the section titles
from this form for the other documents.
5.1
Antrag für die Zulassung zur Doktorprüfung [Form:
Admission for the PhD defense]
This document summarizes all the required documents for the submission
and can be find in the File: Promantrag.pdf. Here we explain how to fill
out the sections of this form from top to bottom (they are all compulsory):
• München, den: put the date here.
• Fach: put the subject here, for which you were enrolled at the LMU
(e.g. Physik or Astronomie). Check the enrollment documents for this.
Note that in the PhD certificate it will state “Doctor of Natural Sciences” (Doktor der Naturwissenschaften), despite what is written here.
• Matrikelnr.: Put the enrollment number (Immatrikulations-Nummer )
here. Also see Sect. 5.6.
• Unterschrift: Sign here.
• Adresse (privat): Personal address (can not be the address of the institute).
• Email (privat): An email-address, where one can reach you (does not
have to be personal).
• Telefon/Handy: A phone-number, where one can reach you.
5.2
Lebenslauf (unterschrieben) [curriculum vitae (signed)]
The signed curriculum vitae (Lebenslauf ) can be an extra document and
does not have to be included in the PhD thesis itself. The minimum given
information is:
• Full name
• Mail address (personal or institute)
• Course of education (Bildungsweg) starting at high-school level (Gymnasium)
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• Professional activities, if applicable
It does not need to contain e.g. the birthday and birthplace, the citizenship
nor a picture.
5.3
Zeugnis über Diplomprüfung, . . . [Certificate of
diploma, . . . ]
This certificate2 demonstrates that you have the necessary university degree
for doing a PhD. If you were able to enroll at LMU (See Sect. 5.6) then the
Dean’s Office should already have a certified copy of this document. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide this document again for the submission.
5.4
Die Dissertation . . . [The PhD thesis . . . ]
Eight copies (“Ausfertigungen”) of the PhD thesis have to be handed in.
5.4.1
Thesis Format
You should use the “LMU Thesis Latex Template” (http://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.
de/hinweise/LaTeXVorlage.zip) to ensure the right format. All figures
should be on an extra page and there should be a list of all figures and
tables. The PhD thesis needs to contain a German abstract (Zusammenfassung), which has to be placed directly after the cover page and before the
English abstract. A copy of the German abstract also has to be sent as a
PDF-file via email to [email protected]. The PhD thesis
does not have to contain any other document, such as the curriculum vitae
(Sect. 5.2) nor any declaration (Sect. 5.5).
5.4.2
Binding
The printed PhD thesis should have an adhesive binding3 (Klebebindung).
IMPRS students are entitled to use the MPE copy shop for printing and
binding of the PhD thesis (up to 20 copies). Contact: Mr. Hauner, Room:
X2.2C7, Tel. 089-30000-3307. Note that the printing and binding needs at
least a full workday. Commercial copy shops can bind eight copies within two
hours, because they use a different adhesive binding (costs: ∼ 60 EUROS
for 8 copies). Note that you allowed to print out your PhD thesis at your
institute.
2
3
Translated to German if you studied abroad.
This is to ensure that one can not replace any page unnoticed.
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5.5
Declarations
There are four declarations, which need to be signed each at Unterschrift.
The corresponding forms are in the Files: Erklaerung.pdf and Erklaerung.pdf.
Theses declarations do not have to be included in the PhD thesis itself.
5.5.1
Eine Erklärung des Antragstellers . . .
In this declaration (top part of the File Erklaerung.pdf) you have to name
your official PhD supervisor, which is actually affiliated with the LMU,
and your institute (e.g. MPE). You also need to cross out the part: “Die
vorgelegte Dissertation wurde nicht betreut. Begründung:”.
5.5.2
Ehrenwörtliche Versicherung gemäß . . .
In this declaration (top part of the File EhrenwVers.pdf) you need to declare, that the PhD thesis was created on your own without any illegal help
(following the conduct of scientific works). Put the date after: “München,
den”.
5.5.3
Erklärung über frühere Promotionsversuche . . .
In this declaration (bottom part of the File EhrenwVers.pdf) you need to
declare that you have never defended a PhD before (If you have, please
contact the Dean’s Office for details). You also need to cross out everything
from line: “dass ich mich mit Erfolg der Doktorprüfung im Hauptfach” till
“Doktorprüfung zu unterziehen.”. Put the date after: “München, den”.
5.5.4
Erklärung über Vorlage der Dissertation . . .
In this declaration (bottom part of the File Erklaerung.pdf) you need to
declare that you have never submitted the PhD thesis for another PhD defense (If you did, please contact the Dean’s Office for details). You also need
to cross out the part: “Hiermit erkläre ich, dass die Dissertation ganz / in
wesentlichen Teilen einer anderen Prüfungskommission vorgelegen hat.”.
5.6
Nachweis über . . . [certificate of enrollment]
You have to provide evidence that you were enrolled for at least two semester
at the LMU. The easiest way is to present two student ID cards (Studentenausweise) from different semesters. In the case, you can not provide those
you can request a “certificate of enrollment”. Here exits a difference for
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those, which have a German university degree and those, which do not. For
the former, you can show a “certificate of exmatriculation”4 (Exmatrikulationsbescheinigung), which can be obtained by mail with an informal request
via Fax (089/2180-3891) from the “student record office” (Studentenkanzlei ;
Address: Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, D-80539 München). For the latter, you
have to go to the office for international students to request such a certificate.
5.7
Ein amtliches Führungszeugnis . . . [A certificate
of good conduct . . . ]
In case, you have not been enrolled at LMU for more than three months at
the time of the PhD thesis submission, you need to provide a “certificate
of good conduct” (Amtliches Führungszeugnis). It can be acquired at the
registration office (Meldestelle) and costs 13 EUROS. The certificate needs
to be sent directly to the Dean’s Office (address in Sect. 1) and it has to be
mentioned in this certificate that it is for the “admission of the PhD defense”
(Zulassung zur Doktorprüfung). Note, that obtaining this certificate can take
up to a month.
5.8
Statistikbogen und . . .
Not required.
5.9
Studienbuch . . .
Not required.
5.10
Vorschlagsliste . . . [Proposed examiners]
You have to provide a list of six examiners. This list has to make clear who is
the chair (Vorsitz ), who is the 1st (Erst-Gutachter ) and 2nd referee (ZweitGutachter ), and who are the two backups (Erster Ersatz, Zweiter Ersatz ).
The list has to be signed by your official PhD supervisor, which is affiliated
with the LMU (and named in the declaration of Sect. 5.5.1).
You are in principle free to choose the examiners of the PhD defense
and which position they take within the PhD defense. IMPRS provides an
4
This is a typical document of the German university system and proofs that you are
no longer enrolled at the LMU but it also gives an overview of the semesters which you
were enrolled at the LMU.
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incomplete list5 of potential examiners. An examiner can be a Professor, a
reader (Privat Dozent, shorthand PD) or any person with an “habilitation”6
(Dr. habil.). However, it is strongly recommended to discuss this issue with
your official PhD supervisor(s) and also note that the 1st referee will be your
official PhD supervisor.
Note, that collecting six examiners is one of the difficult parts of the PhD
thesis submission. It is recommended to contact potential examiners via
email or in person at least 1.5 months before submission. Fixing the date of
the PhD defense (Sect. 4) may also be arranged during this process.
Note that there are no official regulations for the composition of examiners, i.e. in principle all examiners could be astrophysicists. However, the
Dean could object to the proposed composition. Therefore, it is wise to
ensure that there is at least one non-astrophysicist among the four main
examiners. If in doubt you should always ask the Dean’s Office (Sect. 1).
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After the PhD defense
Congratulations for successfully defending your PhD Thesis. The hardest
part is over and you are allowed to have a life again. However, you are not
allowed to call yourself a Doctor till you received your official PhD certificate (in German). In order to get this document you have to officially
publish your PhD Thesis at the LMU within one year after your PhD defense. The process is described in Sect. 6.1. Note that you can use for this
publication a corrected version of the submitted PhD Thesis, where small
corrections such as removing typos are allowed.
After the publication it takes about four weeks till the Dean’s Office
receives your official PhD certificate. They will inform you about it via
email. You or a person, which is officially authorized by you, can then pick
up7 the document from the Dean’s Office.
6.1
Publish the PhD Thesis at the LMU
The official instructions for publishing the PhD Thesis at the LMU are given
here (in English and German): http://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/help.
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http://www.imprs-astro.mpg.de/sites/default/files/Liste_moeglicher_
IMPRS_Pruefer_2011.pdf
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This means that the person fulfills all necessary qualifications to become a full Professor.
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Do not expect any pompous ceremony for the delivery. This is still Germany. It is all
about efficiency ;-).
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The quick and dirty summary of the official instructions: You have to
upload your PhD Thesis as PDF-File at http://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.
de/cgi/register (you need to register first) and you need to hand in six
printed and signed copies of your PhD Thesis (also see Sect. 5.4.2) to the Theses Office (Dissertationsstelle) of the LMU library (room F114) together with
two printed and signed copies of this form http://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.
de/hinweise/formblt_en.pdf. You also allowed to do this via mail (Postal
address: Dissertationsstelle der Universitätsbibliothek, Geschwister-SchollPlatz 1, 80539 München).
For questions, ask either the Dean’s Office or directly the Theses Office
of LMU library (for contacts details see: http://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.
de/help).
Credits
The original document (Version 1.0) was created by A. Kolodzig and proofread by T.
Woods and M. Burk. We thank B. Podolski for useful comments.
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